


An Eye for an Eye

by Pentoll6



Series: Turn An Open Eye [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Multi, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Warnings May Change, Worry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:06:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27901210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pentoll6/pseuds/Pentoll6
Summary: Worry has never not been the part of the skeletons' life, especially the ones where they themselves can't do anything but wait. They already know things are about to change, but did they expect this, when the Underfell brothers came back?
Relationships: Papyrus & Sans (Undertale)
Series: Turn An Open Eye [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2043100
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	An Eye for an Eye

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone tries to ignore the tension in various ways. Rus tries to voice it before getting interrupted.

The clock in their living room was too loud in their home.

Rus never really noticed it before. Sure, there were times when he could have, like the one-two times he fell asleep on the couch (which he is never going to admit) and could have awoken thanks to him being a light sleeper or he could have heard it while he paused the TV in the middle of the night, when everything was that comfortable silence, knowing that nothing bad was going to happen. And yet…

The clock ticked loudly, too loud in the moment where all four of them tried to act like everything was fine. Although, try was a light word, Rus thought, because no one really hid their tenseness very well.

His own brother, Comic, was the easiest and hardest to read at the same time. It was always obvious that there was an issue, but he never knew what it was. Not saying it wasn’t hard to figure out right now, just generally speaking. One brother knows the other after all, so it was easy to see how hollow that relaxed smile of his was and how he forced his phalanges not to tap on the couch as he looked at the TV screen.

Stretch didn’t even try to hide it, in Rus’s opinion. Or well, at least not as much as he did in the beginning. He and Blue had the trait every skeleton was a proud owner of, named “let’s not make people worry about my own problems and thoughts” (Rus often thought they ought to have just one therapy session, all six of them, but he never voiced it because, well… He would have to talk too, then). So, when they came to their house, at first Stretch tried to stealthily glance at the cellar door and not fiddle with his lighter so openly. After he realised how tensed everyone else was too though, he didn’t really give much attention to his own unconscious acts. Rus just hoped he didn’t smoke his entire pack already, although, Blue would have had a sentence or two about it, no matter the circumstance.

Speaking of Blue…

Rus could hear the pan filled with whatever the small skeleton put in it now fizzle, The sound of cooking trying to eliminate the thoughts of abnormality of this afternoon. Or was it abnormality if you had been stressing about things for months every day?

Rus shook his head slightly, before that thought could go any further and focused on the kitchen again. Blue immediately went there as soon as he and stretch arrived. It wasn’t surprising in the slightest, the already amount of piled up food was. Though, Rus wasn’t surprised, he knew no one would be alright once they came to this house.

_Tik. Tik. Tik._

Rus focused on the clock and for a moment, winced every time the hand would move, with that noise. It shouldn’t be that loud, should it? He should have noticed it, perhaps he can go and buy a new one tomorrow, that would be good, it is not normal that it’s louder than whatever sound that came from the kitchen, what if it bothered others, what if his brother woke up to this once or twice, what if this is why Red doesn’t sleep on their couch often, what if this is the reason Edge prefers to be in their kitchen when it comes to friendly conversations, what if-

“Hey, Pap.”

Rus blinked, turning towards the couch from where he stood, staring at his brother’s eyelights that softened slightly as he looked him up and down.

“You’ve been standing there for a while now.”

The taller skeleton turned his gaze towards his hands, where the basket full of clothes were. Oh, yes, he was picking up stuff he claimed were dirty and was just about to go to the..,cellar… where the washing machine was…

“Yes, brother, i am, i was just contemplating whether your hoodie is reasonably clean still or is it clinging to your bones by the grease.”

“Nah, ‘m not in that sticky situation yet” his brother answered, and for a moment, Rus could see Stretch’s mouth curve into a smile before it turned back to that worry. Rus faked a half-hearted sigh as Comic continued. “You could ask Blue though, I saw some flour flying just a minute ago.”

Sometimes it was irritating how vague Sans could be with Rus, especially with his own feelings, but he always appreciated the questions he could toy with by being subtle and Rus didn’t waste a minute not to learn that. So, with a thankful nod, he made his steps towards the kitchen’s entry.

It looked as neatly chaotic as he last saw it, minus some of the new boxes with food in them. It wasn’t filthy by any means, every plate, cutlery, pan was neatly washed and rinsed before Blue reused them, every box was on top on the kitchen table, so, nothing was indeed, filthy. But it was a mess nonetheless.

Rus supposed he should be happy that Blue now was making cookies instead of food that can go bad in a few days, and the fizzle he heard coming from a pan was actually melted chocolate. Christmas was coming anyways, in about 3 months, so most of the cookies would survive, unless they are brought to others in the neighbourhood (of course these will be, there is no way they will keep all of this when things are still not 100% okay).

“I heard what Comic said” Blue addressed Rus, even before he had the chance to speak up. “And I do not appreciate being accused of flour flying. Nor did I appreciate the pun!”

The last part was sad loudly, Blue leaning a little bit out so Comic could definitely hear him and then he turned back to the pan of now completely melted chocolate. If he noticed that his tone was sharper than usually when he tells Comic, Stretch or Red off about puns, he didn’t show. That didn’t mean no one else noticed it and Rus could see from the corner of his eyeholes a little movement, an orange shape stepping closer to the kitchen from the livingroom.

“Well, one thing _I_ appreciate is the variety of dinner choices for today made by you!” Rus said, finally putting the basket full of clothes down onto a chair that was somehow still free of plates. “Although I do not know how the nice humans in that supermarket will react if I come back just a day later for restocking the same amount of food I bought.” He glanced at the fridge that he guessed was 85% empty, give or take 5% if Blue already used the milk up for the batch of cookies he is now making.

“Holy shit.” Stretch whispered, now behind him, the hoodied skeleton taking a step to stand next to Rus as he surveyed the situation in the kitchen. “Bro, are you planning to feed the whole two Embassy?”

Blue turned off the stove before he stopped doing anything, not even turning around as he answered. “I know I over did it a little, but I wanted everything to be ready! And yes, we can always give this to the Embassy, or we can give this to Queen Toriel and her school, I do believe the kids would love it!”

“So, that means you can stop now, after this batch, right?”

“No, I do not think I will, brother.”

Stretch didn’t say anything to that, and Rus had a hard time finding a proper answer himself, knowing it will just poke a probably negative outcome. Then he thought for another moment and promptly told himself that let the walls break. It’s not like they wouldn’t have to talk about it sooner or later.

“Blue, as much as I enjoy your equal enthusiasm for cooking and baking the most amazing food that can get up to our level, this does not make the situation better.”

“It makes me feel better and you know that, Rus.”

“Yes, and I am sure you know the only reason I started collecting clothes to wash them was because I wanted to do something while Red and Edge are still back in their world instead of already being here, but I guess it is fine until we do not talk about it and the obvious tension. Everything is fine here still after all!” Rus flashed one of his smiles that only the creatures closest to him knew it was as hollow of genuine smile as it was filled with sarcasm and he picked up the basket.

And then there was a small explosion sound coming from the cellar.

A moment of silence, that’s all it was after it, before Rus dropped the basket and turned around, watching Stretch teleport away just like his brother did from the couch, and he himself started going towards the cellar, hearing footsteps behind him as Blue followed. The door was quickly opened with a not so gentle force and Rus almost took two steps at a time, restraining himself. The fact that he hadn’t heard neither Underfell brothers talk already was a red flag from the start.

They stopped at the bottom, taking in the scene: There was the machine, still intact, without any changes, even though there was clearly smoke and powder in the air, and there, on the ground in front of it, lay two skeletons. Red’s coat was filled with holes, half the fur gone and his head sweaty like he came out of a fight just less than a minute ago. He was taking breaths rapidly, and he immediately moved, turning towards Comic who teleported next to him and lifting his head up, hands and bones lighting up with red, ready to unleash an attack at the moment’s notice. The moment he recognized Comic, he turned towards the machine that Stretch was next to, said skeleton pushing some buttons to probably shut the entire thing off. He then turned towards his own brother.

If Rus had focused more, he could have pierced together what had happened: He saw the dust on both of them, the torn off clothes, the holes from some specific type of attacks, the new scars they had or the exhaustion that wasn’t in the fast body movements but in their ragged breathing. But he didn’t try to pick up these puzzle pieces to make a picture. He focused on something that he deemed much more important; if Red was still having the magic at his ready, why was his right eye only glowing red, like his left one, where was the flare and the flash of yellow?

And then he turned his eyelights towards Edge as he stepped closer to him, the other hissing out a breath of pain as he touched his forehead while lifting himself up. He immediately reacted to the sounds as well, the posture screaming of a fight but also saying he was ready for another one and he glanced up at Rus.

And he saw the familiar red and yellow flash, now in both eyelights, as it flared up in eyeholes they never before appeared. Rus felt his own eyelights widen, before Edge bit back a sound of pain, his eyelights going out and falling back to the ground. Still and unconscious.


End file.
